THIS DAY IN VIRGINIA HISTORY
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March 25, 1922
Polly Casteel Applied for a Confederate Widow's Pension
The Virginia General Assembly passed Confederate pension acts in 1888, 1900, and 1902, and a series of supplementary acts between 1903 and 1934. The act of 1888 provided pensions to Confederate soldiers, sailors, and marines disabled in action and to the widows of men killed in action. Subsequent acts broadened the coverage to include all veterans, their widows, and their unmarried or widowed daughters. The acts required that applicants be residents of Virginia. Later legislation included veterans or their survivors residing in the District of Columbia, as well. Seventy-one-year-old Polly Casteel, of Russell County, made her mark on her application on March 25, 1922.